Chiang Mai and the Festival of Light, Thailand
The next stop on our trip was three days in Chiang Mai, the cultural capital of Thailand. It is located in the northern part of the country, an hour’s flight from Bangkok, with affordable low-cost flights. The city is surrounded by mountains, and the beautiful Doi Suthep Nature Park is nearby. The city is famous for its many temples and spiritual life, and its history is associated with the Lanna Kingdom, which was an independent kingdom between the 13th and 18th centuries. It has a population of about 130,000, in stark contrast to Bangkok, which has a population of eight million. We spent our time mainly in the old town, which is a kind of square, separated from the ancient fortress walls. The cultural life of the city takes place in it. It is full of restaurants and traditional massages. Personally, the place reminded me a lot of Nessebar, full of history, tourists and all sorts of attractions.
Chiang Mai is world famous for the YI Peng Festival of Light, when thousands of flying lanterns are launched into the sky. The dates vary each year depending on the phases of the moon, but coincide with the other festival I mentioned in the Bangkok article, Loy Krathong, where people place flower baskets with candles on the river. The festival is accompanied by many songs, dances, carnivals and celebrations in the temples. People from all over the world gather to watch the spectacles. That was the reason we ended up there on those dates.
Our hotel turned out to be in an extremely strategic place in the center of events. It is located right next to the old town, next to one of the city’s landmarks – the ancient gate Pae.
For me, this festival is a remarkable experience, the whole city pulsates with music and light. All sorts of events happen at all important points. Everywhere there are lighted colorful lanterns, traditional music sounds, people walk with their baskets and lanterns, there is food and noise on the streets and spirit of celebration.
On the outskirts of the old town we came across a carnival, which for me is completely competitive with the one in Rio. For hours, lavish, more lavish platforms passed us, revealing the beauty of Thai culture. On the platforms themselves or in long processions, all sorts of kings, warriors, princesses, monks, nobles, all kinds of characters reflecting the Thai past and present passed by us.
We also saw Mr. Thailand on one of the platforms, you can’t confuse him because of the incredible noise, female screams and hundreds of outstretched hands for photos as his platform approached.
The culmination is the hundreds of thousands of flying lanterns that people drop over the city. The belief is that if your lantern does not go out until it disappears from view, the year will be filled with luck. For hours we watched the lanterns hovering in the sky, along with the worries and desires of the people carried by the wind. We also launched our lantern.
We spent the next two days exploring the city and made a lot of walks around the tourist part in the old town and beyond. There was a very convenient application for public transport which is much cheaper than the tuk-tuks.
From Doi Suthep National Park
The day after the festival we headed to the mountain and Doi Suthep National Park. By bus from the old town to the university, a 20 baht ticket, and then a tuk-tuk (a van, usually open, and accommodates about 7-8 people on benches in the body), which takes you high in the mountains for 150 baht per person. There are various trails, temples and waterfalls. We decided to visit the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple complex, which is one of the biggest spiritual and cultural landmarks in Thailand. You can reach a long staircase with dragons on both sides unless you decide to pay 50 baht and get on an elevator. They sell tickets, but you can easily enter without. You take off your shoes and immerse yourself in Asian exotics. The golden pagoda, where a particle of Buddha is believed to have been laid, can be seen from tens of kilometers away, huddled with its golden peak high in the mountains.
From the complex itself reveals a beautiful view of the city. In the temples, everything is painted exquisitely to the smallest detail. And all this is a small island in the jungle that spreads around. The place is very beautiful and impressive. Unfortunately, again the culture is turned to tourism. Everywhere they try to sell you something, crowds of tourists, some particularly unpleasant ones, who spend all their time in selfies and it was not clear to me if they saw anything from the place, the carvings and the luxury around them.
Honestly, I was a little sad there because the place is definitely sacred and amazing, but you can see this magic selling out in the crowds of screaming people, the hundreds of pointless pictures and the pose. For me, the temple should be a place of silence, creation and reflection. I wondered if it was worthwhile to promote such hidden miracles. How much better it would be to keep a secret only for those who would really bother to find and visit them. For a moment I slipped away and imagined another picture in which everything was the same, there were just no crowds – silence, only the sounds of the jungle and the wind, the colored tiles, the beautiful ornaments, everything around in flowers. You feel the mystery and sanctity of the place, everything around, nature, temple, visitors, are in harmony, you too. Here and there monks and visitors walk barefoot, read, paint or enjoy the atmosphere. Another noisy crowd blurred the picture, we took our shoes and decided to get rid of the crowd. Opportunities were to walk up to a place with a view, to visit the settlement of a tribe that lives nearby (of these people with rings and elongated necks) or to see another such temple, but it came quite far. All these things again included unpleasant tourists and, worse, crowds of locals trying to take your money at any cost.
A walk in the jungle
We gave up and decided to take a path through the jungle. Armed with mosquito repellent and water, we took a steep path down. On the way we met several people who explained to us how steep the path is and dissuaded us. It is interesting how the same reality can be perceived in radically different ways by different people. The trail turned out to be no more difficult to access than any mountain trail, such as Tarzanova path or Malyovitsa in Bulgaria. Apparently these people had not set foot in the mountains. It was well marked and easy to follow.
We immersed ourselves in the jungle with all its sounds, smells and colors. Exotic trees and lianas everywhere. In front of me – half of my mother’s flowers in their natural environment – crotons, dieffenbachia, dracaena, yucca and everything else, which we grow at home in pots. The crickets are not to be forgotten – they played tirelessly like a giant orchestra, and then in a moment and in full sync they all fell silent. For a few seconds there was complete silence, only an exotic bird calling, and then all together they played again. We continued to go down for an hour or so, here and there we met someone. Calmness and beauty.
The path led us to a small river and next to it was the most beautiful and authentic Buddhist temple I was able to visit. It was not so lavish, there was no gold and a lot of people. The statues were made of stone – dragons, elephants, monks and maidens, much more varied and simple than we had seen before.
There were visitors, but they meekly enjoyed the beauty. I finally found the idea of a temple that I was looking for. The river flowed through the complex itself, we sat next to it to enjoy the place.
Then we continued down the Monks Path, marked with fabrics by the monks’ clothes. We walked down for another half hour and reached the zoo and Chiang Mai University. We took a walk on the university campus. It was nested at the bottom of the mountain, a mixture of jungle, mountain and the science buildings and dormitories. I really liked the atmosphere. There is also a magnificent lake for a walk nearby. We had lunch in the university canteen, which is a large market with all kinds of food for 25 baht basic, twice cheaper than other street food.
On the bus later I was impressed of how the monks do not get charged as a sign of respect.
On the way back we went through a shopping mall to see how things are in terms of prices in Thailand. Tourist and sports equipment is about 30% cheaper than Bulgaria. The white electronic is at the same prices. Clothes, shoes and bags are cheaper.
In Chiang Mai we visited two more temples, one of the biggest landmarks there – Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Chiang Man. They were beautiful and impressive again, but I felt that I was starting to get fed up with temples and they all seemed the same. This article describes well the temples to visit.
Chiang Mai offers several other famous things – a visit to the national park with elephants, massages and excursions to Chiang Rai and Pai. Chiang Rai has an amazing white palace, the pearl of Thailand, and Pai is a famous jungle trekking destination. We didn’t have time for these experiences, but I mark them as something interesting. About elephants – offers for elephants are everywhere, including those where you can ride them. In most such places, the treatment of animals is very inhumane and they are beaten and harassed. There is a better alternative, near Chiang Mai there are two reserves where elephants “rescued” from violence are raised and where you can safely go, feed them and bathe them into the river. I found great reviews for this place, but, unfortunately, everything was booked in the following days and I can not share a first-person impression.
We also tried Khao Soi in Khao Soi Khun Yai – an iconic place to eat the most famous specialty in the region.
Chiang Mai is also the perfect place for an evening walk after it cools down. The streets are bustling with life, you can get fresh pineapples, mangoes or try the amazing surprises of the street kitchen. Here I tried octopuses, crocodiles and who knows what else on a stick. The other thing I would recommend is to try a traditional Thai massage, available literally every 50 meters, and could be a foot or full body massage. Prices vary, but in general for about 20-40 BGN (10-20 Euros), you can ensure first-class experiences.
Personally, I liked Chiang Mai more than Bangkok, because despite the constant Asian dynamics, it turned out to be much calmer and more diverse than the capital.
The next day we headed back to the airport to go to southern Thailand and spend a few days in the jungles of Khao Sok National Park, of which I will tell you in a separate story.
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